USSR 1941

  Chapter 125 Food

At this time, there was a very strange dead silence. Perhaps the German artillery was frightened by the Soviet tanks that appeared in front of them. Uneasy stomping.

   Until a T26 stops, then turn the turret and shoot at a car in front.

   There was a loud "boom", and the shells filled in the rear compartment of the car exploded, and a bright red flame and a cloud of mushroom-like thick smoke exploded at the position of the car.

  The car was torn apart at the moment of the explosion and thrown into the sky, together with it were a dozen nearby German artillerymen.

  The explosion seemed to wake up the artillerymen, and the battlefield quickly became chaotic again, with those fleeing, driving around, and even trying to re-set the howitzer.

   It is not surprising that this happens. They are artillerymen. They always set up artillery on the second line and fire according to the orders of their superiors. No one has ever told them what to do when they encounter an enemy, especially tanks.

The tanks "rumbled" up, left the road without haste, knocked down a few cannons blocking the line of sight and set up a formation, and then the machine guns rang out...Pieces and pieces of German soldiers fell on the ground. In the bullets, like harvested rice, they fell neatly and regularly in rows, including the mules and horses used for transportation.

  Then, the Germans left their cars and equipment and fled as the Shulka passed the tanks and attacked them... This was the first German rout, and they didn't even have time to blow up their cannons and shells.

  The first battalion also seized a large number of howitzers and shells, as well as cars and some supplies. Later, a total of 37 intact cannons and 21 cars were counted.

   But the more important thing is actually those horses and mules... Cannons are actually not of great significance to the 9th Army, because at this time the Soviet Army used more 122MM howitzers, and the ammunition of different calibers was not universal.

This means one thing: After firing these shells, these artillery pieces will become scrap iron. No one is willing to march with such things that will become scrap iron at any time, so their fate is mostly left to follow-up Infantry, the infantry would deploy them where they were and then blow them up after all the shells had been fired, lest they fall back into German hands.

  Cars are of course useful, and you can never have too many cars for a mechanized army.

  The most useful thing is those mules...

You must know that this is the Soviet army. They starved to death not long ago, and now they are still eating hard-to-eat bread with grass seeds and mineral powder all day long. Some people have not even tasted meat for several years. Let go of these things.

So after a while, the mules and horses lying dead on the ground were divided by them with military thorns... The thief also cut a piece, he was always very sensitive to such cheapness, and then wrapped it in a waterproof cloth and put it in a backpack, maybe because there was no one. It was tightly wrapped so that blood dripped down while walking.

   Leonyev asked the thief in disbelief: "Comrade Folivakov, are you going to eat that piece of meat?"

   "Why not?" The thief asked back.

   "But..." Leonyev hesitated to speak.

   "But what?" The thief laughed: "I know what you are thinking, Comrade Leonyev, we are not from Kyiv like you, you don't know what it feels like to starve to death!"

Shulka knew what they were talking about, and Leonyev was disgusted... Although the piece of meat was horse meat, it came from the battlefield after all, and there were dead bodies everywhere, and the thought of it turned people off, so in It seemed to him that let alone eating, it was fine if he didn't spit out yesterday's dinner.

  But Shulka felt that the thief was right. This is a battlefield, and the battlefield should not think too much about spiritual or civilized issues. There is only one thing they have to consider, and that is survival.

   So, if you sum up the takeaways from this battle, it's cars and horse meat.

   But Shulka thinks that the artillery and shells are more important... This is the equipment of an artillery regiment of the German army. Although these artillery are not very useful to the Soviet army, they are an indispensable fire cover unit for the German army.

  If they are not captured, the Germans will drop these shells on their heads in the next battle.

Shulka was right. In the ensuing battle, the German army lost the basis to block or block the Soviet mechanized troops due to the heavy artillery losses. Therefore, the 9th Army was even more powerful and advanced in just one day. Fifty kilometers... This is still because the road is muddy and cannot march quickly.

With the rapid breakthrough of the Soviet army, it brought the heaviest casualties of the German army: the 198th Infantry Division suffered more than 4,000 casualties. Cars, artillery, ammunition and more.

   This is the difference between attack and retreat.

Just like the large Soviet army was beaten by the Germans from Poland to Moscow, some troops retreated from the beginning to the end without much loss, but lost their combat effectiveness and maneuverability...the reason is that they lost the necessary equipment during the retreat .

  War has always been a combination of people and equipment. They are trained to use these equipment to fight. If there is no equipment for them to charge with bayonets, their combat effectiveness will undoubtedly decline exponentially.

  This is the case with the German 198th Infantry Division.

  Admiral Schobert was in a bad mood after hearing the news...

  At that time, he was looking down at the map in the headquarters, and the adjutant hurried in with a telegram and reported: "General, the Russians have broken through our defense line!"

   Admiral Schobert gave a "hmm" and asked: "The first line of defense? The Russian army is stronger than I thought!"

   "No, General!" said the adjutant, "All of them!"

   "What?" Admiral Schobert raised his head in surprise: "What did you say?"

   "Colonel Marcus didn't have time to report the situation to us!" The adjutant said: "The Russians broke through the first line of defense two hours ago, and then quickly broke through the second line of defense. Colonel Chris asked for reinforcements..."

   Colonel Chris is the commander of the third line of defense, if even he is calling for help.

   Schobert stood there for a few seconds, then shook his head helplessly and said, "Reinforcement? No, they won't have any reinforcements!"

  Schobert is not joking, his main force is all on the Dnieper River, and this is the last force he can organize.

   Then, the weak rear and flanks of the southern Ukrainian theater were completely exposed to the guns of the Soviet army.